On Saturday morning a group of friends did a tour of the Woodman Point Quarantine Station. Most of us had heard about this establishment but had no real idea about the fact that it was in operation from about 1852. It is on a beachfront site and there was a large jetty for ships to tie up and disembark passengers and crew who had contracted one of the major plagues of the time. It was still operational into the 1970s. The site is now run by the Department of Sport and Recreation, but the quarantine station and machinery are left in place for tours. $9m was spent restoring the timber cottages, hospitals etc.
There was much to see and learn and everyone enjoyed the experience. The station has the first crematorium ever built in Australia. Because of the deadly diseases treated here, bodies were not buried, but cremated.
For those interested here is a link for a site with interesting details...
In the afternoon I went to collect a computer donated by a lady in her eighties. She was as bright as a button and she told me that she had spent 57 years in California. I asked her if she was a war bride and sure enough she married a U.S. Submariner in Fremantle in 1944. She only returned to be with her sisters in 2001 after the death of her husband. He served on the USS Tautog out of Fremantle. Some info about the Tautog.
Lovely lady and I am sure we will talk more about war brides.
There is a nice song by a local group called ‘The Bridal Train’ written by the band’s singer about her grandmother who married another U.S. sailor and sailed to America on the Monterey.
You can hear 'The Bridal Train' here.
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1 comment:
Kev, You are right, all that interesting history and we were taught nothing about it at school. i didn't know about the smallpox victims or the fact that so many people died at the hospital there. I didn't know that the army were there or that prisoners of war were kept there, I did know about the ammunition being stored there. It was such an interesting morning and Earle Seubert is just so full of interesting stories about the Quarantine station. All that and homemade scones and coffee as well. A wonderful morning,Love the Bridal Train song. Marg
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